The current economic crunch does not need to put a stop to the fun that can be had by wine tasting with a group of your friends; wine tasting is more than an opportunity to sample new wines, it is an opportunity to spend time with your friends, relaxing and simply enjoying yourselves without the stresses of work, deadlines, and bosses!
There are many options for wine tasting on a budget; with a bit of savvy thinking and searching, you and your friends will soon be sipping to your heart’s content!
1Hosting Wine Tasting Parties
Get together with a few of your friends and work on creating a wine tasting circle. Each person should take turns hosting wine tasting gatherings in their home in order to ensure that everyone is treated fairly; it simply wouldn’t be fair on the budget for just one person to host all of your wine tasting parties! Your wine tasting affair can be as low-key or as elegant as you would like it to be; even on a budget you can host a very elegant evening! Following are some tips on how to throw a wine tasting party:
- Low Cost Decorations
Consider creating unique table decorations that will wow your guests by using the labels from several wine bottles and gluing them to the sides of large pillar candles. A blow dryer can be used to soften the glue affixing the labels to the bottles and they should just gently peel away for you. An elegant tablecloth on a lavishly laid out table is certain to impress your guests. Candles, trays of delicious snacks, and sparkling wine glasses can turn a boring table into a wow table!
- Wine Glasses for Wine Tasting
Remember that wine glasses do not need to be fancy or expensive in order to be pretty and practical. You may be able to score a great deal on wine glasses at your favorite store – a dozen wine glasses for $6 is not an uncommon item at Wal-Mart or Target. Consider the addition of wine glass trinkets to add a bit of sparkle to your glasses while also making it easier for your guests to remember which glass is theirs!
- Set A Budget
It is important that you set a budget for the wines that you and your friends will be serving; try to avoid spending more than $10 per bottle of wine as there are many wines that will perfectly fit in at your wine tasting event for under $10 each.
- The Wines
You should offer at least three bottles of wine for your wine tasting party; depending on how many people will be attending your party, however, you may want to consider a few more bottles! At the bare minimum there should be at least one each of a red and a white wine. While it is important to have enough wine for everyone to taste, it is also important to remember that you are hosting your wine tasting parties as a way to spend time together with friends while tasting fun wines – not as a way to get hopelessly tipsy with friends!
- The Snacks
To help in preventing your friends from getting hopelessly tipsy, you should be sure to offer a wide range of finger foods and desserts. Perhaps consider having your guests each bring one item; it doesn’t have to be fancy, even an assortment of cheeses, crackers, and fruits is an excellent addition to your wine tasting table. A bowl of chocolate candies can make a fun and interesting dessert treat for your guests!
- Bits & Pieces
You should ensure that you have at least one bottle opener on the table, along with an assortment of napkins. Since your guests will be using their one wine glass provide a pitcher of fresh water for them to swish out their glasses between wines.
To help add to the conversation at your wine tasting party, consider printing out cards of reviews and descriptions of each of the wines in order to get your guests discussing the wines that they are tasting!
2More Wine Tasting On A Budget
There are several additional places to join in on wine tasting events; contact your local wine shops to find out when they host tasting parties.
If that is not a service that they offer then you may consider suggesting to them how a wine tasting party, offered to wine lovers on a budget, is an excellent way of seeing a boost in their sales. A wine tasting party hosted in a wine shop not only introduces wine lovers to new flavors but it puts them right in the middle of a store that they will find difficult to leave without making a purchase! It is the rare business professional who can turn down an opportunity like that!
3Wine Tours
If there are any local vineyards in your area consider doing a wine tasting tour with a small group of friends and take advantage of all that a local vineyard can offer you – grapes grown locally, wine made locally – what a true delight a local vineyard can be! They will not only allow you to taste their magnificent wines but will likely also allow you to tour their facilities and offer you a discount on a bottle (or two!) of their wine!
4Traveling Further Afield
If you live in an area that does not have any local vineyards then you may want to consider wine tasting trips to favored vineyards. By searching out affordable airfares and the best in affordable accommodations, you can easily pay a visit to your favorite vineyard while on a budget. There are several wine tour companies that offer chartered buses to drive you and your friends to visit the most popular vineyards; gather a group of your fellow wine lovers and take a tour! You are sure to have some incredible wine tasting experiences!
The fact that you are on a budget does not need to prevent you from enjoying wine tasting and wine tours with your fellow wine lovers; by either hosting a budget-friendly wine tasting party or taking an affordable tour to a vineyard, your love of wine can be allowed to flow freely in even these tough economic times!
